Fast-tracked into captaincy, young Shreyas Iyer led from the front with a scintillating 40-ball 93 as a rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils came out all guns blazing to thrash Kolkata Knight Riders by 55 runs at New Delhi.


Iyer slammed an unbeaten 93 off balls 40 balls, hitting fours sixes off Shivam Mavi, taking 29 runs in the last over to help Delhi post the biggest total of the season of 219 for 4.


In reply, the Daredevils bowlers got their act together for the first time and restricted Knight Riders to 164 for 9 to register their second win of the season.


Maxwell, Boult, Avesh and Mishra picked two wickets each but the real damage was done by the new Purple cap holder Trent Boult and young Avesh Khan, who struck in the powerplay to reduce KKR to 44 for 4 in the powerplay. From then on, it was always going to be difficult, if it wasn’t for a brilliant counter attack from Andre Russell (44 off 30, with fours sixes), Knight Riders could have well have been facing the worst ever IPL defeat.


Once, Russell was cleaned up with a toe crushing Avesh Khan yorker, it was a one-way traffic. 


Earlier, the Daredevils batting did more than commendable job, led by Iyer and young Prithvi Shaw, who became the youngest to score an IPL fifty.


Iyer, dropped twice during his knock, creamed off ten sixes – his career-best – and scored at a mind boggling strike rate of 232.50.


Delhi’s decision to drop Gambhir and try out a new opening combination of Prithvi and Munro did wonders as the duo put on a 59-run stand for the first wicket to lay a strong foundation.


Munro was cleaned up young Shivam Mavi  for a well-made 33 off just 18 balls but there was no stopping his opening partner Prithvi Shaw. Playing only his second match in the IPL, Shaw displayed an exhibition of free flowing strokeplay, taking on the likes of Piyush Chawla and Mitchell Johnson without any inhibition.


Shaw hit the experienced Piyush Chawla four four boundaries, taking him for 17 runs in the third over of the match. However, India’s U-19 World Cup winning captain, saved the best for Johnson, when he hit for a six using the helicopter shot in a manner that would make even Dhoni, the inventor, jealous.






He was finally out for 62 off 44 deliveries and then the new captain Iyer took over.


Toss Report


Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and opted to field first against Delhi Daredevils in match No. 26 of IPL 2018 at the Feroz Kola in New Delhi.


The speculations proved to be right as the Daredevils decided to drop Gautam Gambhir from the playing XI two days after he had decided to step down as the leader of the franchise.


New captain Shreyas Iyer, who is making his debut as captain in the IPL confirmed that Vijay Shankar has replaced Gambhir and Colin Munro replaces Dan Christian.


“There's some pressure on us, but this is also a great opportunity for me. We need to win 7 out of our remaining eight games, it's tough but not impossible,” said a confident looking Iyer.






Knight Riders on the other hand decided to bring back Mitchell Johnson in the playing XI in place of English paceman Tom Curran.


“There will be dew and the wicket will be better to bat at night. Just keep cool, it's just a game, the weather shouldn't be a problem tonight,” said Karthik.


Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav


Delhi Daredevils (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Glenn Maxwell, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Liam Plunkett, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult